Documentation

Documentation

[Alexander E. Patrakov]

In the Linux From Scratch (LFS) support mailing list a question has been 
asked: why can't hotplug load the "snd-pcm-oss" module automatically 
despite the fact that the Creative Live! soundcard is found and the 
"snd-emu10k1" module is loaded automatically for it. I answered this 
question, but another point has been raised there that should be really 
discussed here.

Namely, the problem is that the recommendations on building Linux kernel 
and writing /etc/modules.conf (or modprobe.conf) file that predate 
adoption of Hotplug are now wrong, invalid and even harmful. Since 
Hotplug and Udev will be probably included in the next version of LFS, 
and even experienced developers cannot build a trouble-free kernel for 
use with Hotplug and Udev on their first attempt, we expect a sharp 
increase of support questions per day in our list.

I could not find any up-to-date "good practice" documents upon building 
the kernel that work well with Hotplug and Udev. E.g., it is mentioned 
nowhere that if a character or block device driver is built as a module, 
then it will not be loaded automatically. Yes, that is in the Udev FAQ, 
but in the wrong form: you state that it is not the task of Udev to load 
modules (it is a negative statement), and I need an URL with some 
positive recommendations how to load modules and to avoid various 
chicken-and-egg problems. The snd-pcm-oss problem is also documented 
nowhere. (is there any comprehensive list of such undetectable modules?)

Could you please post link here to some good (possibly even "official") 
up-to-date and newbie-proof list of good kernel building practices? The 
discussion of modprobe.conf will be also very nice. I will be glad to 
put that link into the LFS book, thus avoiding repeated support questions.

If such document is not written yet, we should collaborate and write it.

-- 
Alexander E. Patrakov


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Re: Documentation

[Greg KH]

On Thu, May 27, 2004 at 07:12:23PM +0600, Alexander E. Patrakov wrote:
> 
> Could you please post link here to some good (possibly even "official") 
> up-to-date and newbie-proof list of good kernel building practices? The 
> discussion of modprobe.conf will be also very nice. I will be glad to 
> put that link into the LFS book, thus avoiding repeated support questions.
> 
> If such document is not written yet, we should collaborate and write it.

I do not know of such a document yet, sorry.

thanks,

greg k-h


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Re: Documentation

[Niko Sauer]

On Thu, 27 May 2004, Alexander E. Patrakov wrote:

> Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 19:12:23 +0600
> From: Alexander E. Patrakov <patrakov@ums.usu.ru>
> To: linux-hotplug-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
> Subject: Documentation
> 
> In the Linux From Scratch (LFS) support mailing list a question has been 
> asked: why can't hotplug load the "snd-pcm-oss" module automatically 
> despite the fact that the Creative Live! soundcard is found and the 
> "snd-emu10k1" module is loaded automatically for it. I answered this 
> question, but another point has been raised there that should be really 
> discussed here.
> 
> Namely, the problem is that the recommendations on building Linux kernel 
> and writing /etc/modules.conf (or modprobe.conf) file that predate 
> adoption of Hotplug are now wrong, invalid and even harmful. Since 
> Hotplug and Udev will be probably included in the next version of LFS, 
> and even experienced developers cannot build a trouble-free kernel for 
> use with Hotplug and Udev on their first attempt, we expect a sharp 
> increase of support questions per day in our list.
> 
> I could not find any up-to-date "good practice" documents upon building 
> the kernel that work well with Hotplug and Udev. E.g., it is mentioned 
> nowhere that if a character or block device driver is built as a module, 
> then it will not be loaded automatically. Yes, that is in the Udev FAQ, 
> but in the wrong form: you state that it is not the task of Udev to load 
> modules (it is a negative statement), and I need an URL with some 
> positive recommendations how to load modules and to avoid various 
> chicken-and-egg problems. The snd-pcm-oss problem is also documented 
> nowhere. (is there any comprehensive list of such undetectable modules?)
> 
> Could you please post link here to some good (possibly even "official") 
> up-to-date and newbie-proof list of good kernel building practices? The 
> discussion of modprobe.conf will be also very nice. I will be glad to 
> put that link into the LFS book, thus avoiding repeated support questions.
> 
> If such document is not written yet, we should collaborate and write it.
> 
> 
Dear Alexander

I do not have what you are looking for, but some notes I have made on use
of udev for hotplugging flash memory devices and cd writing. In Linux-2.6
the kernel configuration for achieving these things are much simpler than
for the 2.4 kernel. CD writing with the new kernel is so simple that the
existing HOWTO (also included in Beyond LFS) is hopelessly outdated. Would
you be able to use these notes, and would someone else in the LFS team be
interested?

Kind regards

Niko Sauer
______________________
Unit of Advanced Study
University of Pretoria
Pretoria 0002
South Africa

Tel: [27][12] 420 3558
Fax: [27][12] 420 3904



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